1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving support method and a driving support device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known conventional devices for supporting safe driving include onboard systems that use an onboard camera to take images of an area, namely, a driver's blind spot, and display the images. One such proposed system uses an onboard camera to take images of blind spot areas caused by a front pillar of a vehicle, and displays the captured images on an inner side of the front pillar. The front pillars are right and left supporting columns that support a front windshield and a roof. Thus, a front pillar is positioned in front and off to the side when viewed by a driver sitting in a driver seat. Although the front pillar partially obstructs the driver's field of view, it is essential for safety.
Referring to FIG. 12, the system described above includes a camera 100 that is attached to a vehicle body and capable of taking an image of an image area 106, an image processor that processes the image signals output from the camera 100, and a projector that projects an image on an inner side of a front pillar 101. Accordingly, as viewed from the driver's position 102, the outside background appears to be visible through the front pillar 101. Therefore, at intersections or the like, it is possible to check for obstacles and the shape of the road in a direction diagonally forward of the vehicle.
When an image captured by the camera 100 is projected on the pillar 101, however, the viewing angle of the camera 100 does not completely coincide with the viewing angle of the driver. Therefore, a problem arises in which the image projected on the pillar 101 is offset and askew with respect to the background as viewed by the driver through a window. As a countermeasure, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2005-184225 discloses projection transformation of an image taken by a camera onto a virtual plane (virtual screen plane) set to align with the driver's viewing angle.